Feeding of soft-shelled turtle insects

(1) feeding equipment may be developed according to the size and purpose of the feeding scale. Only the feeding equipment for providing the source of medicinal materials and insects is introduced here. ① insect screening: the purpose is to screen and separate nymphs, adults and egg sheaths of different ages within a certain period of time, and then raise and separate medicinal worms respectively. The sieve hole is divided into 5 kinds of specifications: 2-hole sieve: used when separating adults. 4-hole sieve: used when 7-8-year-old nymphs were isolated. 6-hole sieve: used when separating egg sheath and insect feces. 12-hole sieve: used when 1-year-old 2-year-old nymphs were isolated. 17-hole sieve; the nymphs were isolated and used to remove parasitic natural enemy acaroid mites. ② format feeding pit and semi-underground feeding pond: format feeding pit is the use of old houses, temporarily unused barns and toilets with roofs and walls, etc., to dig underground pits with a depth of about 67cm, a width of 70cm and 100cm of unlimited length (depending on the amount of feeding and the actual situation in the building). Tamp the bottom of the pit and spread cement around it to make it smooth. For example, it is better to stick a 3-7 cm wide glass strip to prevent the escape of ground turtle insects at the pit mouth above the pit wall. The pit is divided into several compartments with thin cement board or glass, and the size of each compartment should be standardized in order to calculate the amount of nymphs of different ages and the yield per unit area. In the pit, the feeding soil is 20cm to 27cm thick, a tight wooden cover is added around the pit mouth, and there are vents with window screens, and then put into adults or nymphs of different ages. Separate feeding is easy to manage and feed. Because most of the feeding pits extend below the surface, the temperature in the pit is higher than the surface in winter and lower than the surface in summer, which can make the soft-shelled turtle less affected by seasonal changes, benefit its growth and development, and improve the survival rate. The structure of the semi-underground breeding pond is similar to the format of the feeding pit, except that half of the pool is buried in the ground, the other half is higher than the ground, the pool is no longer divided, the pool is 2 meters long and 1.5 meters wide, and there are not only vents on the pool lid, but also double-layer window screen doors that are easy to manage and operate. The semi-underground feeding pond is suitable for feeding adults, propagating in large numbers and obtaining insect body medicinal materials.

(2) preparation and treatment of breeding soil the soft-shelled turtle is a diurnal and nocturnal insect, which sneaks into the scholar during the day and likes to look for food in the soil or on the soil surface. therefore, the soil is the small living environment of this kind of insects. The quality of soil and the collocation of containing substances are directly related to the survival, growth and development of Trionyx sinensis. ① soil quality and water content: according to the requirements of breeding soil, it should be adjusted according to its specific conditions, such as vegetable garden soil, garbage soil, ditch mud, stove foot soil, sand-clay mixed soil, and mixed with appropriate amount (20% 30%) of fermented chicken manure, pig manure, horse manure, coke mud ash or rice chaff ash. No matter what kind of soil is chosen, it should be loose in texture, rich in nutrition, moderate in dry humidity, clutching and loosening. If the water content is measured, it should be 15% to 20%. This kind of soil is easy for turtles to lurk, get in or climb out, and move around at will to find food and mates. Treatment of ② breeding soil: before the breeding soil is put into the pit or pond, it should be exposed to the sun, sterilized, insecticidal, and screened to remove impurities, bricks and stones. All factors that are not conducive to the life of Trionyx sinensis should be excluded as far as possible in advance. The thickness of soil laid in the pond should be different according to different ages or adult stages, and the thickness of soil in the same pond should be different in different densities and different seasons. Experience has proved that the thickness of the soil raised by the 4th instar nymph, the 5th instar nymph, the 5th instar nymph and the adult nymph should be 7cm, 10cm, 16cm, 20cm and 26cm, respectively. In the same pond, the soil with high population density should be thicker, and the soil with lower density is lighter; the soil is thinner in summer and thicker in winter; the soil layer of breeding insects is thicker than that of raising medicinal insects, so that the process of mating and spawning is less disturbed.

(3) the choice of feed and feeding soft-shelled turtles are omnivorous insects. However, from the point of view of insect eating physiology and different degrees of gluttony to food, any omnivorous insect has its favorite food range. Under artificially controlled feeding conditions, the selection and matching of feed is directly related to the success or failure of feeding and the size of harvest. ① feed types: generally can be divided into three different properties of feed: plant feed: including wheat bran, rice bran, cake, powder, broken rice, corn and other miscellaneous grain powder. After stir-frying to overflow fragrance, spread out to cool and feed. Animal feed: the leftovers from the restaurant, such as pigs, cattle, chickens, ducks and fish, can be used as feed for their consumption, but they should not deteriorate to prevent the soft-shelled turtle from becoming infected and dying. If possible, it can be processed into a loose mixture of bone and meat and stored in cold storage. Small insects, such as crickets, locusts, moths and so on, are put to death and can be eaten. Earthworms can also be cultured artificially (except for medicine), which can be used to feed turtles as the most gluttonous. Green fodder: it is a necessary food for raising turtles. Green cabbage, cabbage, lettuce, amaranth, sesame, broad bean, peanut, sweet potato and other leaves, pumpkin, loofah flowers and fruits can be fed. Cut pieces such as melon peel and potato are more fond of food. The green feed should be kept fresh and clean. We should pay more attention not to pick green fodder sprayed with insecticides to prevent the poisoning and death of ground turtles. ② collocation feeding: in summer and autumn high temperature season, we should feed green fodder once or twice a day, put it in the morning and keep it fresh. In order to increase nutrition, pumpkin flowers and towel gourd flowers are indispensable. The times and amount of feeding in a day should be controlled once every other day in the low temperature month and once or twice a day in the high temperature month. The amount of feeding is commensurate with the population density in pits and ponds. After each feeding, the surplus and shortage of feed should be observed, and in principle, we should master the consumption of concentrate and more than green fodder. We should not only feed the worms, but also avoid unnecessary waste and excess residues that lead to parasites and plant mites. Soft-shelled turtles should be fed less before and after desquamation, but not during peeling. When it is found that there are many insect skins on the surface of the breeding soil, or there are many lighter individuals.

(4) Scientific management of soft-shelled turtles raised under artificial conditions, scientific management is the key to its success, is a more complex and meticulous work, should be done carefully.

① egg collection and egg hatching: the female begins to lay eggs after about a week of mating. The spawning period can last from early May to November, with June to September as the peak spawning period. The egg sheath was produced outside the body and dragged at the tail end for a period of time before falling off the soil surface or adhering to the edge of the breeding pond. Because of the phenomenon of eating egg sheath when the turtle colony is raised, the sheath bag can be removed and placed in another small feeder to isolate and hatch. When taking the egg sheath, the adults were separated by a 2-hole sieve, and then the egg sheath was screened out by a 6-hole screen. The time interval of egg separation should not be too short, and too many times of egg collection are disadvantageous to the development of species and insects. However, if the interval is too long, the egg sheath will be worn and disturbed due to adult crawling or topsoil overturning, which will affect the hatching rate of eggs. In general, it is more appropriate to take eggs every 15 days or so.

② male selection: is to naturally hatch the immature male part of the elimination. If there are too many males, they not only consume feed and occupy the feeding area, but more importantly, males should not be used as raw materials of traditional Chinese medicine. Under natural conditions, the male-to-female ratio is about 13:5. Under the condition of artificial feeding, as long as 15% of the active and robust males can fully meet the needs of breeding and mating in clusters, and will not affect egg fertilization and hatching. Castration can be carried out after the nymph grows and develops to the 6th instar. The main difference between male and female nymphs lies in the shape of the second and third segments of the chest and the inclination of the posterior angle of the outer edge. The oblique angle of the male nymph is large and the oblique angle of the female is small. The above characteristics are obvious in the male and female diotypic species, but not very prominent in the homotypic species. Castration can be carried out at the same time as the selection of the good and the bad. The retention of high quality species and insects is one of the keys to obtain high yield and high economic benefits. When removing males, the same batch of hatched individuals of the same age who are strong, lively, large, bright in color and with complete limbs should be retained (those found to be unhealthy by females should also be removed at the same time).

③ graded feeding: different ages or individual sizes are similar and fed separately in different feeding ponds, so that their development is basically uniform, so that it is easy to feed, manage and harvest as appropriate. Generally can be divided into four grades: 1-6-year-old, 7-8-year-old, 9-11-year-old, into the middle grade. At the beginning of feeding, it is difficult to distinguish the age of nymphs, which can be classified according to their body size, such as sesame type (nymphs that develop to 1 ~ 2 months after hatching in eggs), soybean type (nymphs that develop to 3 ~ 4 months), broad bean type (nymphs that develop to 5 ~ 6 months), and thumb type (as big as thumb cap, that is, adults).